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Clubs in middle school are a chance to do something you are curious about, passionate about or if you just want to do something different than your core classes. They vary from basketball/square dancing club to robotics or a sports casting club. In the past, I’ve co-led groups in a Makers Space, Coding, and a Go Girl Club. This year we are doing Poses and Prose Club.

We begin our time setting an intention and yesterday we talked about I AM statements to begin our day. At night, some of us write in a journal of some sort. We used Yoga With Adriene for our Sun Salutations.

Following our Sun Salutations, we each chose something we were drawn to that afternoon. Some read books, some returned to a collaborative writing project, and others worked on a list for our next club. I look forward to sharing more with you in the coming weeks.

Day 6 is Club day at Durham Academy Middle School. Mr. Schaefer, Mrs. Schwartz, Mrs. Williams, and Mrs. Donnelly offer a Coding Club where students learn how to use code, write code, and create interactive experiences.

Yesterday, Stephen Allison from zSpace gave us the opportunity to play and learn using a virtual reality station. We got to take apart a motor, hold a virtual butterfly, and see inside a heart.

“The zSpace System comes with a high definition stereoscopic display. It rendering full resolution images for your eyes and tracking your head movements to create a smooth parallax experience.” http://zspace.com​

I was curious about parallax. Just in case you are too, here is what Wikipedia reveals: Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight, and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines.

Students put on the glasses, picked up the stylus, and with minimal guidance from Mr. Allison were able to manipulate the tools with ease. I even got in on the game. We took layers off, labeled parts, and felt the heart beat through the stylus. We could reach out and “touch” the things we were viewing. Of course I inquired about Language Arts applications, and they are in the works. Can you imagine a 3D reading experience?